Peshmerga fighters gave the victory sign as they walked on foot into the recaptured town
Kurdish fighters have entered Sinjar
in northern Iraq, a day after launching an offensive to retake it from
Islamic State (IS) militants.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces were filmed
streaming into the town, walking through its rubble-strewn streets and
putting Kurdish flags on buildings.IS killed and enslaved thousands of people from the Yazidi religious minority when it took Sinjar last year.
Meanwhile, at least 17 people have died in a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad.
The bomber targeted the funeral of a Shia militia member in the south-west of the Iraqi capital and wounded more than 40 people.
Also in Iraq, the army says it has launched an offensive to recapture the western city of Ramadi from IS - although some local sources say the advance has not yet happened.
'They stole our dignity'
A senior Peshmerga source said Kurdish special forces entered the northern parts of Sinjar and raised the Iraqi Kurdistan flag on a number of buildings, including a primary school, a medical centre and a government office.But he warned clearing the town "was a work in progress".
"It might take between seven to 10 days to reach the centre... as there is a large scale clean-up operation due to booby traps and suicide bombings, heavily used by IS militants who depend on guerrilla tactics," he told the BBC's Ahmed Maher, who is at Mount Sinjar.
Peshmerga fighters were greeted with scenes of devastation when they entered parts of Sinjar
They have been fighting to recapture Sinjar since it was seized by IS militants in August 2014
The Kurdish news agency Rudaw tweeted a stream of photos and videos it said were of Peshmerga troops inside the town.
"They are patrolling each and every alley of the town and they are repelling [IS militants]," a soldier, Wahder Saleh, said.
"We have seized many of their weapons and we have also bodies of the dead militants. Peshmerga are now in full control of the town."
The offensive to retake Sinjar began at dawn on Thursday backed by US-led coalition air strikes.
Some 7,500 Kurdish fighters, backed by Yazidi volunteers, closing in on three fronts after coalition warplanes bombed IS positions, command-and-control facilities and weapons stores.
The Kurds estimated that there were almost 600 IS militants in Sinjar before the offensive began, but the coalition said they believed some 60 to 70 had been killed in Thursday's air strikes.
Thousands of Yazidis are taking part in the offensive. Turkish Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels have trained a Yazidi militia, while others have joined the Peshmerga.
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The risk of genocide was a key factor in the US decision to launch air strikes in Iraq.
Hussein Derbo, the head of a Peshmerga battalion made up of 440 Yazidis, told Reuters: "It is our land and our honour. They [IS] stole our dignity. We want to get it back."
Sinjar - a strategic town
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- Situated in northern Iraq at the foot of Mount Sinjar, about 30 miles (50km) from the Syrian border
- Highway 47, one of IS's most active supply lines, runs through the town
- Area mainly inhabited by Kurdish-speaking Yazidis with Arab and Assyrian minorities
- Islamic State militants attacked in August 2014
- Some 50,000 Yazidis fled the town and became trapped on Mount Sinjar without food or water
- Since then, Kurdish forces have won back areas of the town but IS resistance has led to a stalemate
